Design of an Automated Algorithm for Delimiting Land Use/Soil Valuation Classes as a Tool Supporting Data Processing in the Land Consolidation Procedure

Abstract

The consolidation of land to improve the agrarian structure and provide for sustainable rural development is a complex and multi-faceted process, and its efficiency depends on a considerable number of factors associated with its respective stages of desk studies and fieldwork. In order to ensure the highest-quality concepts and their efficient implementation, various measures are undertaken to improve, among other things, the methods for acquiring, collecting, and processing spatial data representing elements of reality saved in cadastral databases. There are a wide variety of available solutions oriented towards land consolidation improvement, but most of them refer to modifications that are difficult to implement due to, for instance, high costs, high technical requirements, and the absence of relevant legal regulations. Our study aimed to find a practical and applicable solution to a material problem in terms of land consolidation projects in Poland, a task associated with the necessity of converting cadastral database objects so that they were suitable for appraising the value of land, and designing new farmsteads based on the value of land held by particular participants of the land consolidation project. It involved the development and implementation of a self-designed algorithm for automated processing of auxiliary land-use/soil-valuation class objects into separate classes representing soil class contours and land use contours, in compliance with the current regulations governing the structure of the cadastre in Poland. The work resulted in the development of an innovative tool, making it possible, among other functions, to align object-generating methods as preferred by the administrator of the cadastral database. The designed algorithm model reduces data processing time to several seconds, while simultaneously eliminating the risk of error. The tool was thoroughly evaluated and then implemented at the Subcarpathian Office of Land Surveying and Agricultural Areas in Rzeszów, which is in charge of land consolidation projects in south-eastern Poland.